Strawberry & Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

Recipe courtesy of Luisa Ormonde of Luisa’s Catering. Luisa says, “I made this for our friends that came over our house for brunch. I thought with Mother’s Day coming up, this would be a great recipe to share…it’s great for treating mom to a breakfast in bed! I make my own brioche (see recipe here: Simple Brioche Loaf) but you could certainly purchase one already made”. Time: 20 mins. Serves 4.

For the filling:

• 12 (or so) fresh organic strawberries, sliced in half
• 1 small jar of quality strawberry preserves/jam (Luisa used Sigona’s strawberry preserves)
• 8 oz. cream cheese (very cold), sliced into 12 slices

For the toast:

• 8 thick slices brioche bread
• 4 large eggs (Luisa used Wattle & Comb pastured eggs, found only at Sigona’s!)
• 1/2 cup organic cream
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• pinch of pink Himalayan salt

Fresh strawberry coulis:

• 1 small package organic strawberries
• fine sugar to taste
• fresh lemon juice, to taste

What else:

• unsalted butter, for buttering pan/griddle
• powdered sugar, for garnish
• fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

To make strawberry coulis: Blend strawberries, sugar and lemon juice with a hand blender of regular blender Strain into a bowl. Pour into a plastic squeeze bottle (if you got one) and chill until ready to use.

For the French toast: Lay out all 8 slices of bread. On 4 of the slices, place 3 slices of cream cheese slices, some strawberry jam and top with 3 strawberry halves. Top those with the other 4 plain slices of bread (just like you are making a sandwich!).

In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon and salt. One at a time, place the “sandwich” in the egg mixture, soaking about 20-30 seconds per side. Remove the bread and allow the excess custard to drip off. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining “sandwiches.”

Add about a 1 tablespoon of butter to the heated skillet/griddle and coat. Add the filled slices of toast to the skillet/griddle in a single layer. Cook until light golden brown and crisp, about 1-2 minutes per side, adding more butter to the skillet/griddle as needed.

To serve: Cut each “sandwich” in half. Squirt/spoon strawberry coulis on serving platter or individual plates. Transfer French toasts to serving platter/plates, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with fresh mint sprigs.